click to enlarge Simi Hamilton at the Middlebury Carnival in 2009.

With only two weeks before the Olympic Games, Simi Hamilton, recent graduate and captain of the Middlebury Ski Team, was given the final spot allotted to the US Team in Vancouver. We couldn't be more proud of Simi or the fact that we have a pair of Middlebury Alums representing the US at the games. (Click the Fasterskier article below for more) Congratulations!!

Fasterskier Article

click to enlarge Garrott Kuzzy in West Yellowstone, November 2009.

Congratulations to Garrott! Enjoy the games!!! Click below for details.

Fasterskier Article

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click to enlarge Graham, Doug, Chase- a great finish. (Lincoln Benedict photo.)

Today was a rare day: beautiful weather, rock hard skiing and everyone (EVERYONE!) skiing really really well. Sleepy Hollow is a tremendous touring center, a really beautiful place to go skiing, yet as a race venue, it is pretty tight. With a few creative corners, the 3 person x 3 lap x 1k sprint relay had a solid tag zone and a tough climb. The Middlebury men locked into a two-horse race right out of the gate as Dartmouth's Patrick Obrien laid down a fierce first lap. "Cannonball" Graham Egan managed to hang however exclaiming after the first heat, "if he puts in another one like that, I'm not sure I'll be able to go with him." Graham's relay partners, Chase and Doug "Oh Dear God There's A Sprint On the Schedule" Debold were in fine form and handled the tags easily. Strong skiing closed out the final laps after some cat and mouse with Dartmouth's Vermeer and Koons. The Midd men's B relay was also impressive, besting all other B relays and finishing a respectable sixth.

On the women's side, the young team hung tough with help from Lauren Fritz, who after some early contact in lap one made her way through the field with the help of her teammates Corinne Prevot & Keely Levins on their first laps. Through the second round of tags, the Midd women mixed it up with UVM, but were able to get the better of the Catamounts with more consistent racing through each leg. Keely Levins looked thrilled crossing the line in second place. Cate Brown & Dana Tower had fantastic races also, both young in their skiing careers, they played with an ability to push deep into a true sprint pace and made room for the racing return of Hilary Rich, who fought through soreness leftover from her December 24th compartment syndrome surgery. The B-women's relay finished 13th.

Many thanks to Tim Reynolds and a recovering Jimmy Levins for handling additional wax and spare pole support. (Jimmy was necessary when Martin Breu lost a pole to a mid lap collision.) And again to our unbelievable lunch support. Parents you guys are amazing.

This momentum will carry us through the carnival break. It was a great day of skiing, great races by all.

Chase en route. (Lincoln Benedict photo)

Graham zooming. (Lincoln Benedict photo.)

(Lincoln Benedict photo)

(Lincoln Benedict photo.)

click to enlarge Keely Levins at the December EC. (Flying Point Photo)

Day one of St. Mike's Carnival in the books. It was a beautiful day with great skiing conditions, sunny and warm. Set against one of the toughest courses we'll face all year, our crew took on a tough 10k in the women's field. We didn't have a stellar day with senior Lauren Fritz breaking a pole and losing significant time. Congrats to Dana Tower with a career best finish. (Full results at www.eisaskiing.org) On the men's side, we had a strong day with junior captain Graham Egan leading the way in 5th place and first year skier Dylan Grald finishing 8th. Both Dylan and Graham looked relaxed and smooth over the fifteen kilometer course, consistency key in such rolling terrain. Noah Brautigam and Chase Marston, both locals on the Sleepy Hollow trails finished within a second of each other. Photos and full report to come.

click to enlarge Fritzy racing earlier this season in her home in the frozen north. (Apologies for the lack of photos. Got the camera back from Nikon on Friday. Game on for the coming weeks. Check out eisaskiing.org for more.)

1 down, 5 to go. While the first carnival is rarely our best effort, it was still good to great to be in the mix again. I like how the carnival season is a weekend after weekend of single focus with a few interval sessions, van drives and days off in between. There was a lot of speculation coming into this season with a huge contingent of racers graduation out last year on both. Chatting with other coaches, we thought that perhaps there would be an absence of senior leadership. Not the case as was evident by some very strong skiing at the top of each day in each of the races. Friday was a bit of a mess, yet through that we had some strong efforts, some performances that as I coach, I can't help but psyched to see. In particular, the skiing from Lauren Fritz was important for us as our women's team is young and small in numbers (we've had more than our fair share of bad luck with illness and injury this year). Throughout the weekend, our young crew skied its way into the 2010 carnival season with aplomb. A few other highlights: Doug was our top finisher on Friday and in case anyone missed it, that was NOT a sprint race. (You can race distance with the best of them, Doug.) Today, in the women's race, we had four out of five starters with ZERO experience in a fifteen k mass start. Congrats to you all for learning the scene. Fun to see- Some other bits from the weekend worth retelling: Chase trying to finish on the exploded remnants of a classic ski, Dylan Grald bleeding out of his face at the finish of the men's race, Keely pushing to near convulsion at the 15k today, Cannonball Egan- cannonballing. I don't think many of us are particularly satisfied with the opening carnival, but no one is hanging their heads. This is just the beginning and there's a lot of skiing to do. Many thanks to Patty, Taylor & Claire for race support and to the Levins and Marston crew for providing us with lunches and particularly to the very kind and generous McClellands for housing us and feeding the crew dinner.

Links and Resources

Head Nordic Coach

Andrew Gardner

Gardner enters his fourth season at the helm of the men's and women's nordic ski teams. He came to Middlebury from Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS) in Carbondale, Colo where he was Nordic Program Director. Since coming to New England, he acted as the wax tech for the 2008 Junior National Team, a coach at regional development camps and serves on the U23 NENSA board. Gardner is the coordinator for sustainability in athletics, serving on the college's environmental council. In the summer he enjoys road racing for the MetLife cycling team.

agardner@middlebury.edu

o: 802.443.5963

Assistant Nordic Coach

Patty Ross

Now entering her 23rd year as a full-time coach of Middlebury nordic skiing, Patty came to the College after four years of world-class competition. She was one of five American women nordic skiers to compete in the Sarajevo Olympics in 1984; she also competed internationally with the U.S. national team from 1983 to 1986. Patty graduated from the University of New Hampshire, where she was an All-East collegiate skier and captain of the Wildcat team. While at UNH, Patty competed in the World University Games in Sofia, Bulgaria. As a coach for the International Special Olympic Games, Patty received a Distinguished Service Award in 1984. She acted as a coach for the U23/ World Junior Championships in Italy in 2008.

o: 802.443.5006

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